Ankle-brace.



No. 654,286. Patented July 24, I900.

W. A. SEARS.

ANKLE BRAGE.

(Application filed Ian. 6, 1900.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSESI INVENTOR AF FmMM-za. S T .B we U THE NORRI 4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ANSLEY SEARS, or MEoHANIosvILLE, IOWA.

AN KLE-BRACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 654,286, dated July 24, 1900. Application filed January 5, 1900. Serial No. 440. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM ANSLEY SEARS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mechanicsville, in the county of Cedar and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Form of Ankle-Brace, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a new and useful form of ankle-brace in which the torsion of aspringwire, together with two leathern pads held in place by means of two small straps, forms a light, flexible, and durable support for weak or injured ankles. This brace, with slight variation in construction, may be fitted to any foot. It is worn outside of the shoe'and is not fastened to it.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the mechanism, and its various parts are lettered A, B, O, D, and E.

The framework of the brace A is a springwire the ends of which are parallel to each other, but whose middle portion is extended into an oval. This oval stands at an angle of about sixty-five degrees with the parallel parts and its longest axis at right angles to the parallel parts.

The pad B is composed of two pieces of leather, of the same size and shape, sewed together at the ends, in the seams of which are sewed also the divided ends of instep-strap D. This pad B is movable up and down on the parallel parts of the spring-wire. This pad when properly adjusted rests above the ankle-bone on one side of the leg.

The pad 0 is composed of two pieces of leather of the same size and shape, the under one of which is heavy and the upper one light,

having their edges sewed together around the oval part of the spring-wire. This pad when properly adjusted rests below the ankle-bone on the other side of the foot from pad B. Into the center of this pad, on the outer edge below, a small buckle is attached for the other end of the instep-strap D.

One end of instep-strap D is divided, so as to straddle the ankle-bone below pad B. This strap D when buckled into pad 0 holds pad B firmly in place.

The strap E is used to produce a sufficient amount of torsion in the wire to balance the defect of muscular power in the limb. It should be inserted in the loop at the back, then carried around the leg opposite to pad B and through the loop on the other end of the wire in front, and then doubled back upon itself and buckled. By shortening and lengthening this strap after other parts are adjusted to the foot the proper amount of support is given.

I claim- In an ankle-brace, the combination, with a spring-wire A formed with two upright parallel arms and an oval-shaped portion bent at an angle to the upright arms, of a pad B 'movably mounted on said arms, a pad 0 on the oval-shaped part of the wire, a bifur= cated strap having its bifurcated part at tached to the pad B, means for securing the free end of the strap to the oval part of the spring-wire, and means for attaching the free ends of the parallel arms to the limb of the wearer, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM ANSLEY SEARS.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL SWINTHAN SMITH, ARTHUR LYMAN PARSONS; 

